Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, description will be made of a cable connector in a first related technology. The illustrated cable connector comprises a base insulator 114 provided with a plurality of conductive contacts 112 mutually arrayed in two rows, two cover insulators 121, 122 having a long plate shape and sandwiching two cables 117, 118 each arranged with a plurality of wires arrayed in a flat manner at predetermined intervals to each other, to thereby retain them, and a plurality of conductive cable-connection contacts 125 provided on the two cover insulators 121, 122, respectively.
The contact 112 comprises a socket portion 112a adapted to contact with the cable-connection contact 125, and a pin-shaped contact portion 112b adapted to contact with a counterpart contact of a counterpart connector not illustrated. The cable-connection contact 125 comprises a pin-shaped connection contact portion 125a provided between a plurality of grooves 131, 132 formed at one edge portion of each of the two cover insulators 121, 122, and a connection retaining portion 125b driven into each of a plurality of holes 135 formed near the grooves 131, 132.
The base insulator 114 comprises a base portion 114b including a fitting portion 114a that is open and arranged with the contact portions 112b for receiving the counterpart connector (not illustrated) fitted thereinto to bring the counterpart contacts into contact with the contacts 112, and base fixing portions 114c provided on both sides of the base portion 114b. The base fixing portion 114c is formed with a base screw hole 114d. Further, the two cover insulators 121, 122 are each formed with cover screw holes 121a to 121d, 122a to 122d near four corners thereof.
The two cables 117, 118 are sandwiched between the two cover insulators 121, 122. On the upper cover insulator 121, the wires of the upper cable 117 are connected to the upper cable-connection contacts 125 in one-to-one correspondence. On the lower cover insulator 122, the wires of the lower cable 118 are connected to the lower cable-connection contacts 125 in one-to-one correspondence.
Thereafter, the two cover insulators 121, 122 are screwed to each other by engaging screws 141 into the cover screw holes 121a to 121d, 122a to 122d for fixedly sandwiching the cables 117, 118. The two cover screw holes 122b, 122c are matched in position with the base screw holes 114c, 114d and screwed thereto. The two cover insulators 121, 122 are connected to the contacts 112 in the state where they are retained to the base insulator 114.
An example of a cable connector according to the first related technology is also disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H10-303529.
With respect to the cable connector according to the first related technology 1, however, the base insulator 114 and the cover insulators 121, 122 are held by jigs (not illustrated), respectively, and connection is carried out along guides of the jigs, and therefore, reliability upon the connection is poor. Further, the cover insulators 121, 122 and the base insulator 114 are screwed to each other to fix the cover insulators 121, 122, thereby achieving rigidity of the whole cable connector. However, the screwing operation takes much time and, if trying to achieve automation, facilities become complicated, which thus has been a factor of poor economical efficiency.
Referring now to FIG. 3, description will be made of a cable connector according to a second related technology. The illustrated cable connector uses one coaxial flat ribbon-shaped cable 117 like the cable shown in FIG. 1. The cable 117 has an end portion formed as a cable curved portion 117a having a generally S-shaped side and having been subjected to bending. The cable curved portion 117a is fixed by concavo-convex portions 121e, 122e formed by two cover insulators 121, 122.
In this case, operations such as a process of bending the cable 117 and a strip process of stripping the cable 117 of its coating portions to expose wires, are carried out.
Further, referring to FIG. 4, description will be made of a cable connector according to a third related technology. In the illustrated cable connector, two cables 117, 118 like the cables shown in FIG. 1 are overlapped each other via an intermediate member 161. The cables 117, 118 are sandwiched and fixed by two cover insulators 121, 122 as shown in FIG. 1 and the intermediate member 161. The cables 117, 118 are provisionally fixed to the cover insulators 121, 122 using double-coated tapes 165, 166, respectively. The intermediate member 161 serves to prevent coming-off of the cables 117, 118.
Examples of cable connectors according to the second and third related technologies are also disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H11-329620.
With respect to the cable connector according to the second related technology, however, there is a problem that the bent cable 117 is in an unstable state until the cover insulator 121 and the cover insulator 122 are united with each other so that it is difficult to automate the operations.
Further, with respect to the cable connector according to the third related technology, much time is required for the operation of sticking the cables 117, 118 onto the cover insulators 121, 122. Further, upon moving between the operation processes, there are instances where an external force is exerted to the cables 117, 118 to tear off the stuck cables 117, 118.
Further, there is a problem that inasmuch as the intermediate member 161 is provided between the cables 117, 118, it becomes unstable even in case of automatic assembly.